Should I Use an Aggregator? And What is it???

Do you remember when we first talked about Aggregators? They publish e-books in the ePub format and distribute them to multiple online channels. Instead of having to submit your e-book to each individual website, Aggregators will do it for you.

While creating this informational sheet, I had a hard time figuring out what the author’s royalties would be on each book. Usually the author takes a percentage of the list price of the book (wholesale or retail) minus the printing costs and/or publishers percentage. My best advise is to figure out your book royalty from each aggregator. You may be surprised at the difference between publishers.

Ingram Content Group
https://www.ingramcontent.com

         This is the umbrella organization for Ingram and IngramSpark.

IngramSpark
https://www.ingramspark.com

         IngramSpark is a print and e-book self-publishing service established by Ingram, the world’s leading distributor of print books connected to 39,000 bookstores, libraries, and online retailers in more than 150 countries.

IngramSpark Online Distribution Partners

Ingram Print Distribution Partners 

Online Help: Self-Publishing Help Center with Free Resources
https://www.ingramspark.com/help

Pricing:  $49 set-up fee and $12 annual fee.

Distributes to: See Above Tables

Royalties:  53% commission for sales to bookstores and 30% to online retailers, after deducting book production costs. (Commission = bookstore purchase price(55% of retail)   – production costs)

Print or e-Book?  Both

Blurb
https://www.blurb.com

            If your book has a lot of photographs, you might consider Blurb. The print quality is excellent.

Online Help: Help Center included tutorials
https://support.blurb.com/hc/en-us

Pricing:  Free Upload

Distributes to : Blurb Bookstore, on Amazon, and in over 39,000 stores with Ingram’s distribution.

Royalties:  Vary; Distribution fees are charged.

Print or e-Book?  Both

Bookbaby
https://www.bookbaby.com

            Bookbaby has complete packages and templates for print and e-books as well as many extra services available for an additional cost. 

Online Help:
https://support.bookbaby.com/hc/en-us

Pricing:  $299 for e-book; $990 for authors with print ready files, includes 25 softcover books, e-book conversion & distribution, POD distribution, two ISBN barcodes.

Royalties: 100% for Amazon e-book; other royalties vary

Distributes to: 170 countries, 60+ stores

Print or e-Book? Both

Draft2Digital
https://www.draft2digital.com

          Draft2Digital will do the formatting for you, but take a  percentage of your royalties.

Online Help: Knowledge Base
https://www.draft2digital.com/knowledge-base/

Email: support@draft2digital.com  Phone: US: (866) 336-5099

Pricing: Free Uploads

Distributes to: Amazon, Apple Books, Barnes & Noble, Google Play Books, Kobo, Playster, Tolino, OverDrive, Scribd, Bibliotheca

Royalties: 15% of net royalties

Print or e-Book? e-book only

Lulu Press
https://www.lulu.com

Lulu Press offers both print-on-demand and distribution services for books. It has its own online bookstore.

Online Help: Publishing ToolKit  https://www.lulu.com/publishing-toolkit

Pricing: Free to upload

Distributes to: Amazon, Barnes & Noble, the Ingram Network. Lulu’s Global distribution service reaches over 40,000 retailers and schools around the world.

Royalties: 80% royalty for print books and a 90% royalty for eBooks based on Royalty x (retail price – print cost – 20% Lulu)

Print or e-Book? Both

Smashwords
https://www.smashwords.com

         Smashwords was the original aggregator until Draft2Digital came along. You need to do the formatting yourself. It is the world’s largest e-book distributor, but it does not distribute to Amazon. It has its own online bookstore.
           Quote from website: “Smashwords offers quick and easy ebook distribution to most of the world’s largest ebook retailers.  We provide free tools for marketing, distribution, metadata management and sales reporting.  At Smashwords, our authors and publishers have complete control over the sampling, pricing and marketing of their written works.”  

Online Help: FAQ
https://www.smashwords.com/about/supportfaq

Pricing: Free to upload

Distributes to:  Apple Books, Barnes & Noble, Scribd, Kobo, Blio, Tolino, Overdrive, CloudLibrary, Odilo, Gardners, Askews & Holts, Califa, Fnac, Browns Books, Baker and Taylor, Livraria Cultura, Hive, Axis 360, the Smashwords store. Does not distribute to Amazon.

Royalties:  15% of the retail price on Smashwords and 10% on other platforms per copy sold.

Print or e-Book? e-book only

This concludes our three-part series on publishing your book. We hope you better understand your many options before publishing your book.

If you have any questions, you can contact us at Hallard Press 352-234-6099

Of course, we welcome your comments and experiences below.